The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 126-122, on Saturday to secure the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference for the 2019-2020 NBA season.

The two teams played against each other after ending the round-robin seeding games in 8th and 9th place with the Grizzlies only 0.5 games behind Portland.

The NBA restarted in a secure bubble in Orlando, Florida, with 22 teams that still have a chance to win the championships. The squads were selected based on their standings before the NBA suspension in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. The top 8 teams in each conference and all the other teams who were 6 games or less behind the eight seed were invited to play in the bubble.

According to ESPN, 2 hours before the game, Portland center Jusuf Nurkic "didn't want to play" after hearing that his grandmother died from a COVID-19 infection.

The grieving Nurkic ended up playing anyway, and led Portland with 22 points, 21 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks.

His dominating form was supported by a solid performance from superstar Damian Lillard, who scored 31 points and dished out 10 assists.

Veteran superstar and Portland's late addition, Carmelo Anthony, added 21 points and 3 rebounds for the Trail Blazers.

However, the Memphis Grizzlies didn't make it easy for the Trail Blazers. Grizzlies center Jonas Valanciunas put up 22 points, 17 rebounds, and 6 assists, almost a mirror performance of Nurkic.

Brandon Clarke added in 20 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists for Memphis off the bench.

Two Memphis players were not able to play, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Tyus Jones. Both players are nursing an injured knee.

Ja Morant, the current favourite to win the coveted Rookie of the Year award, ended his rookie season with a stellar 35 point performance. He also contributed 8 assists and 4 rebounds.

The disappointing loss gave Memphis a 2-7 record in the Orlando bubble. They entered the bubble as the Western Conference 8th seed but ended up 0.5 games behind Portland by the end of the round robin games.

At the end of the game, Morant also revealed that he has been playing with an injured thumb since the game against the Toronto Raptors. In the past 4 games, analysts were curious about the black brace the rookie was wearing in his right thumb.

The Trail Blazers will face top seeded Los Angeles Lakers this Tuesday in the first round of the 2019-2020 Playoffs.

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